Consensus: School needs more control of fundraisers

NORWALK — They know how it happened, but why did it happen and how can they make sure it never happens again? Those are some of the questions discussed in emails between the administration and Norwalk City School Board members concerning the activities of former football coach Todd Fox. The school board spent almost $100,000 to Flannery Georgalis, LLC to investigate two incidents involving members of the football team and how the situation was handled by the school. Fox was placed on administrative leave on Sept. 23 — the morning of a home football game vs. Bellevue — following several allegations of inappropriate behavior among players on his team. Two specific incidents have been referenced by parents and school staff. One alleged incident in June involved some type of inappropriate behavior among football players during a "sleepover" at Contractors Stadium. What happened at the event has not been disclosed by the school district. The second incident on Aug. 10 in the football players' locker room resulted in three teenagers being placed on probation in juvenile court. A Norwalk police report stated that two players restrained a third player while another rubbed a sex toy on the player. Fox and the district parted ways at the December school board meeting. The main focus of the report was the mishandling of funds. Norwalk City Schools Superintendent Brad Cooley previously commented on the report, which put blame on both Fox and director of student activities Josh Schlotterer. "They made it as a 1-A and 1-B (with Fox and Schlotterer)," he said. "The only mistake he (Schlotterer) made was addressed years ago by a previous superintendent. There has been nothing after that. "There are so many other things ... there is cash flowing. You should know a lot of things. That was not within his scope. You have checks. You have cash. There are forms. A lot of loose cash available. As a school we need to do a better job of that. We need to know the money coming in and going out." The Norwalk Reflector requested emails between the school board and administration from Nov. 1 until Dec. 8. Here is some of the correspondence concerning the way the school handles funds: Treasurer Joyce Dupont, Thursday, Nov. 3 The majority of the financial issues with Coach Fox are booster related. Except for one, which is the Trucker Card fundraiser from August of 2021. Josh was compiling information for his meeting with Kurt Livingston regarding football fundraisers but Josh could not find a form he needed since Kim, his secretary, was out sick. Josh called the company to get a copy of the form. Then Kim called back and told Josh where the form was in her office. Josh compared the two forms and there is a difference of $1,415.00. Josh then called the company and talked to the fundraiser rep who stated the form that Coach Fox turned in with the amount of money the school received did not come from their company. Josh let Brad know and Brad let me know. I spoke with Josh, Kim and the fundraiser rep from Winning Edge to confirm all. I have been talking with Kevin Locke, the F/G investigators, my auditor and Lisa and Jeremy this morning regarding how to handle. This will be part of the upcoming audit since the audit is 7/1/2021 to 6/30/2022 and this occurred in August of 2021. It will be a finding of recovery against Coach Fox and myself, as the Treasurer always receives a finding also. Hopefully it will be paid back by Coach Fox before the audit is completed but if not we will be withholding from his football supplemental payment so that it is cleared up. This is not public knowledge as of the moment. And we have already had a public records request by Joe Centers for the executive summary sent to Brad and myself yesterday. Alison Crawford, Thursday, Nov. 3 I believe this situation leaves us with an opportunity for improvement. Brad and Joyce, I want to stress that my comment is not because I don't support the amazing organizations that support our students and district. But, with that being said, I believe when something can negatively impact the district, we need to make sure we have our eyes on it so we are not left to explain something we didn't follow procedure on. I don't believe any coaches should have the final decision on how fundraisers are handled or who they are run through. I believe we need to tighten this up for all sports and extracurricular activities and let Joyce help guide these rules and all should be required to follow them. She takes the responsibility as she said above which isn't fair when decisions are being made outside her knowledge. All should have to be approved by Josh and Joyce or Brad or however you recommend making these fundraisers more appropriately managed. Joyce and Brad, are you in agreement to making some mandatory changes so we don't face this kind of issue in the future? Joyce Dupont, Thursday, Nov. 3 Yes, completely agree. I do need to be more involved in fundraisers, fundraisers have always been a problem. It is difficult to make advisors, coaches and principals follow the rules regarding internal controls, deposit requirements and documentation. Which is why they use the Boosters. Unfortunately we have little control over Booster groups. Joyce Dupont, Saturday, Nov. 12 I am concerned about the appearance that is being given regarding financial implications in the executive summary report. The report states ..."F | G's investigation revealed instances of financial misconduct." There was only one instance that was related to school funds — the fraudulent form and missing $1,415.00 with the Trucker Cards. This was actually discovered by Josh when he was compiling information for a meeting with Kurt Livingston, it was not discovered by F/G unless they considered Josh sharing with them (via Brad and I) to be their discovery. The Venmo account was related to Booster activities. The wrestling issue was also either a Booster activity or a personal sponsored coach event. But I don't know because we did not receive enough information on Tuesday to understand exactly what happened, when it happened and what the event was. Nor was more information provided on the North Central Football Coaches Association, which is very much still in existence. What Fox's connection is with the checks that were found addressed to the Association is still unclear. I thought the investigators were going to provide more details on that. Then the report states...Finally, F|G's investigation supports the conclusion that Fox treated monies intended for the school and the team as his own. He co-mingled personal funds with school funds by maintaining a Venmo account unassociated with any Board-approved bank account. He kept fundraising prizes designated to go to supporters of the team." No, he did not co-mingle personal funds with school funds because they were not school funds. The District does not allow Venmo accounts and all of the activities where he used a Venmo account were for the Boosters. Granted the Boosters are to support the school but we are completely separate organizations and the District has no control or authority over how the Boosters allocate or spend their funds. But the investigators never made it clear that these were Booster activities. And this section...Although not to the extent of Fox, Schlotterer himself intermingled District funds and his own personal assets. What was this in regards to? Josh did have an issue years ago where he used his credit card to purchase items the Boosters were reimbursing him for but that was dealt with then. I believe this was back in 2016 and it was not District funds. And the concern then was points, cashback bonus, miles or whatever that he may have earned by using his own credit card. Has something happened since then? If so, we need to know what it is. We have internal control procedures in place to manage both fundraisers and athletic events. At athletic events there are tickets to reconcile the cash collected and multiple people involved. This is why you purchase a ticket from one gate worker and give it to another worker before entering, it is an internal control procedure. School fundraisers are approved by Josh (or the principals) and then by Brad and I before they are allowed to take place. A final report is done when the fundraiser is complete that balances the expenses and revenues and we match up what was deposited and expended to the final report. | don't know of any way that the Trucker Card fraudulent form could have been discovered other than by chance. Whichis how fraud is usually found, just by luck. | think the most important issue is clearly stating when activities are Booster/PTO related. And that they are not school sponsored or sanctioned events. I shared multiple emails with the investigators where I asked for events to be clearly marked on information being put out to the public as Booster/PTO related when they were not district events. Now that we have PeachJar it is much easier to see events that are happening with the Boosters/PTO/Jr Truckers etc and will make it easier to address. We can always do better and I intend to take a good look at our policies and procedures already in place. I am just concerned that the report repeatedly states District funds, when it was not. I met with the investigators when I shared the information Josh provided about the Trucker Cards. They did not reach out to me after that meeting with any other information or for clarification on what they had found relating to anything financial. Maybe the detailed report has clarification but without knowing what is in it I don't know how we can fix it or address any underlying issues. Alison Crawford, Saturday, Nov. 12 As I understand your concerns with this report, most people who participate in fundraisers with our students believe money is going to the school for our students. Until I was involved as a board member, I had no idea there was a difference and I'm sure many others also didn't either, as it has never been spelled out on any fundraisers I have ever seen. (School district vs Booster) | also don't think we can be upset the investigators didn't give more details or investigate the checks found or the LLC Fox had further when we gave them timeline to finish up their investigation after the last board meeting due to cost concerns expressed by a couple board members and admin. So, to say he didn't comingle personal funds and school funds is not exactly true. I paid him for my son's camp fee via Venmo. I had no idea it was not connected to the school as he said I could pay him that way. If anything, it shows he did represent it as a way to pay fees or other cost associated with student involved activities. If you'd like to ask them to be more specific on what was done or how the funds were associated with the boosters in the report, that's fine. But, at some point, we need to release something as the public deserves to have an idea of what was found and what we intend to do to make things more controlled in the future. Lisa Wick, Monday, Nov. 21 Attached is updated information from Kevin regarding Fox's resignation. This is much better than it was from the original and feel we should all come to an agreement to put this behind us. If you have any questions; ask them. I did ask Kevin to explain further on the "no comments" and how much of a statement we can put out there, since most of the community is still waiting and deserve more. As well as with the money of $1,500 being paid back, like Joyce had stated, it's still theft. I will also send a short email to Higgins with ODE Professional Conduct Dept stating the investigation is done. I will cc you all on that once it is sent. I'm not just handing them the report and I would assume they will ask and I'll reach out to Kevin at that time. As I stated before in a previous email, Norwalk Police Dept is heading up the monies part of the investigation; including the Venmo activity. As of this morning, Officer Good is reaching out to F/G for the full report. No charges have been filed against Fox. Fox said he did not want to comment on the situation, but that he would when the time is right.